STU Senate Briefs March 15, 2018

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The academic planning committee’s proposal for a Masters of Social Work program was approved by the St. Thomas University senate on March 15.

The proposal will be sent to the board of governors for consideration.

This proposal would modify the current bachelor of social work program by reducing it to one cohort instead of two. This would allow the program to manage resources and faculty more efficiently to provide a masters.

Marilyn Dupré, director of the school of social work, said a Masters in Social Work is in high demand by employers and students.

The number of students in each cohort would be reduced from 52 to 30 to accommodate the new program.

Similar proposals for a Masters of Social Work had been considered twice before, most recently in 2012. The university’s board of governors denied it due to financial concerns.

If it’s approved this time around, it will be submitted to the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission for approval.

Bursaries added

The Fredericton Community Foundation bursary and the Nancy MacFarlane Memorial bursary were approved by senate.

Integrity and research committee

An ad hoc senate committee on integrity and research investigation appeals was created. The committee’s role is to consider an appeal from a respondent found by the university’s board of inquiry to have committed an ethics breach. Senate members Dawne Clarke, Amanda DiPaolo and Shaun Narine were elected to sit on the committee. The committee’s task is to consider a written submission from the respondent and determine whether the board of inquiry considered the evidence fully and fairly and followed its procedures.

Change to course evaluation forms

The question “The professor did not arbitrarily cancel classes” will be excluded from analysis of the current student-rated course evaluation forms. New forms will be printed (without this question?) once the existing ones are used up.